Two females sharing 1 nestbox!

[tinytalkers07]

Has anyone ever heard of two females sharing a nextbox and a clutch of eggs? I have 4 pairs in a large cage with four nextboxes. One femalestarted laying in one of the nextboxes, and when she had laid her 4th egg, I noticed another female going in and out of the same box. Now, there are eight eggs and the females take turns sitting on them! When one is sitting on them, the other is right next to her or right outside the nestbox. The mates of these two females hang around outside the box, but seem somewhat uninterested. I know they had been breeding, so I think this is a fertile clutch... Has anyone ever encountered this?:S

Thanks

Tinytalkers07:budgie:

[alicia]

i have no idea hee hee never herd of that in my life maby they'lll be nice to each others babies its better with more help hapoefuly there not im a compitition and there working together

[pal0m1n0]

The closest I have been to that is when my hen did not kick out one clutch as she went on to lay another. I removed the first clutch when the next started hatching. If they got along this far without destroying each other's eggs, who knows it could work out. If you decide not to split them up you should document it, some vets in avian research could find it interesting.

[tinytalkers07]

Well there are now 10 eggs in the box, and the hens seem to be getting along fine. Maybe I will take out the oldest babies to handfeed once the 6th or 7th egg hatches, so there are fewer for the parents to maintain... I know at least 3 eggs were laid before the other hen started laying hers in there...

Thanks for the input!

I look forward to more posts and opinions!

[Marsheliah]

Well, it seems that they have a babysitting rotation. It seems uncommon, but possible, I guess. I would think it seems okay.

[pal0m1n0]

Please keep us posted on how this works out.

[Meghanxx4]

wow thats interesting!

[tinytalkers07]

Well, the first egg didn't hatch on Sunday, the second one didn't hatch yesterday either.... I took the eggs out (after sanitizing my hands of course) and candled them all. one broke a while ago, so there are only 12 now... It looked like about 7 of them are fertile, but some aren't due to hatch until the end of the month so I am leaving them all in there for now.. I marked the ones that look fertile with an X so I will know if they all hatch or not. Some looked pretty close to hatching, so hopfully I will have some babies soon!

I will update in a couple days, hopefully I will have some baby pictures!!!

:budgie:

[Bea]

I've seen this once before, on another forum. The hens successfully hatched and raised their chicks while sharing the nest box. :) Good luck with your eggs.

[tinytalkers07]

Well the third egg hatched today, right on schedule! The first two never hatched, but i don't have them numbered so I can't remove the eggs... But anyway, baby #1 is here, I may have to foster some with other pairs if a lot of the eggs hatch, I'll just have to wait and see!

Oh, does anyone know of ay kind of heater,like for baby food or something, that I could use to keep formula warm? I am handfeeding a fewcockatiels, and I have the hardest time trying to keep the formula warm enough, I end up having to heat it several times. I put the dish of formula in a dish of hot water, andithelps some, but still doesn't keep it warm for long....

Thanks!!

[Bea]

Well i was just going to suggest keeping it in a container of boiling water, that's always worked for me. Otherwise maybe you should mix smaller amounts and make up a fresh batch during feeds (or get someone to do it for you so you don't have to leave the babies...

[tinytalkers07]

Well two eggs hatched today... Maybe the one that was supposed to hatch two days ago hatched today instead... she probably didn't start incubating until a couple were laid, so that would explain why these two hatched the same day... Wel anyways, another one is due to hatch the 17th, so I will update when something happens!

[tinytalkers07]

Well so far things are going as scheduled... When I checked the box this morning, there are now 3 babies and 9 eggs... So far only one hasn't hatched on schedule, but one broke a while ago so that may have been the one. All the babies are being fed and well taken care of, and I am keeping a close eye on them...

:budgie:

[pal0m1n0]

What is the father doing? By the way, did he father all the eggs?

[tinytalkers07]

No, there are two fathers... They don't seem very interested, but they hang around the nest box and they do feed the hens, but I think the hens take turns sitting where one sits and the other goes and eats, then the other one sits while the other one eats. The babies are being fed well and both mothers are very attentive...

[tinytalkers07]

Baby #4 hatched today! So far 4 out of 5 have hatched on schedule, not a bad turnout! only 8 more to go...

I am going to candle them tonight when it gets dak to see how many morelook fertile...

[Angel_Miette]

I have a suggestion for warming formula... What about using a baby bottle (just to hold the formula for warming) and then putting it in a bottle warmer? You can find bottles and warmers at almost any big store (like Walmart or Target) in the isles where they have all the baby stuff. It defenitly takes the hassel out of boiling water and most of them have special indicator lights on them or buzzers to let you know when the formula is warmed up. And I'd asume budgie babies are close to human babies in that you don't ever use the microwave cause it leaves hot spots and can zap nutrients right out of the milk/formula.

Angel Miette:budgie:

[tinytalkers07]

Thanks fo the tip! I will look into it!

[tinytalkers07]

So I finally got a battery for my camera and took a picture of the two mothers sitting on their clutch... Now I know that the female with more yellow LOOKS like she has a blue cere, but she doesn't! I am absolutely 100% positive she is a female. Her cere is a light crusty tan, but it just wouldn't show up right in the pictures...

You can see the newest baby in between them in the back, and 3 of the eggs up front. They were laying on them all, they just got up when I opened the box...

[pal0m1n0]

Pretty amazing. How will you know which chick came from which pair later?

[tinytalkers07]

I don't really have any way of knowing... Even if I labeled them, they laid eggs on the same days so I wouldn't have been able to know which one laid which egg... Besides, both females are green, and both of their mate are teal colored
(Skyblue yellowface type 2) so they will probably be all green anyway... I am going to separate all four of them so I can pair them with different mates so I can get some color!

[BUUZBEE]

wow, too many threads! i missed this one!

are you sure both birds laid them? the one on the left doesnt look at all to be in breeding condition. shes actually very blue. Does she also have a bad foot? my stumpy that has bubs right now does, poor gal, i think it was broken as a bub.

[tinytalkers07]

She was in breeding condition when i put her in there, but she has been losing the crustiness on her cere so I think she was going out of condition when she started laying.
They are both definately laying eggs, there were 13 laid in the box within 14 days, 2 at a time being laid on some of the days...
I did notice that she was holding her foot up in the picture. I don't think she has a bad foot, I have never seen her show and signs of any problems with it, I just think she didn't want to move because I was in there and she was holding it up because the bub was under it...

[BUUZBEE]

hehehe, better than standing on the bub! are the 2 sisters?

[tinytalkers07]

It is possible they may be sisters, I did get them from the same breeder...

I don't know if I already posted this, but yesterday chick #5 was born! That makes 5 out of 6 so far... One is due to hatch today, I will post when another hatches!!

[tinytalkers07]

Another egg hatched today! That makes six babies so far...

[Bea]

It's a good thing there's two mummies looking after them. :P Makes things easier. ;)

[tinytalkers07]

It's a good thing there's two mummies looking after them. :P Makes things easier. ;)

Absolutely! And I am so proud, they are taking such good care of them! I am no longer really worried about the babies being fed, the only thing I am worried about is the big babies hurting the tiny new ones... So I check on them often, I might foster some of the older ones if any more eggs hatch, so the little ones don't get smooshed....

[RuffledFeathers]

Oh, does anyone know of ay kind of heater,like for baby food or something, that I could use to keep formula warm? I am handfeeding a fewcockatiels, and I have the hardest time trying to keep the formula warm enough, I end up having to heat it several times. I put the dish of formula in a dish of hot water, andithelps some, but still doesn't keep it warm for long....

Thanks!!

Hi Tinytalker... Have you looked at Baby ( Human ) Food warmers they keep the liquid/soilds at a constant temp... IN Aust Avent is the best brand . Hope this helps....
P.S I was shocked:eek: to hear the 2 hen sharing...Hope it all goes well....

[pal0m1n0]

It has been a while since you posted about the progress. How are things going? ANy pics of the babies?

[RuffledFeathers]

Questions asked in a different site answer below
It would be very hard to do anything too disruptive at this stage since the eggs have started hatching, BUT you are about to experience some very difficult problems.
1. As there are 12 eggs and the possibility most of them will hatch...you need a lot more room than the average nesting box for the babies. The average nesting box struggles for space with 6-7 chicks and adults.
2. After a few have hatched the rest of the eggs will get so much poop on them that they will contaminate and the other chicks due to hatch will in all probability end up dead in shell.
3. At the stage of mothers/fathers feeding babies you may well end up with fights over chicks and which fathers ARE or AREN'T allowed into the nestbox to feed babies. As Fathers see it as their job after a few days and will fight each other at the nestbox entry to gain access over the other cockbird.
4. You risk fights over feeding babies partway through the raising of the babies as each father deems it his job to step into the nest box and "help". This will mean fights, injuries and deaths.
5. You may have babies attacked.

So, you have to ask yourself....
** is there room for all these babies in this nestbox ?
** is there room in this nestbox for 4 adults in and out and all the babies ?
** do you want to risk lives
** are you prepared to hand feed a lot of babies due to fighting parents possibly causing abandoned chicks.

Plan of action might be
1. candle eggs to determine hatchability
2. Leave only a sustainable amount of eggs in the nest and ONE hen to raise them.
3. Work out who the pairs and leave one pair in charge of the nest with around 5-6 eggs and remove the other pair.
4. Allow the other pair to start again elsewhere...ie a breeding cage.

Might I ask, how many pairs of birds you have in what kind of space. How many nesting boxes they had to choose from and where were the nesting boxes placed ?

[pal0m1n0]

Those are all very good points. I thought I saw another thread about hand feeding 6 babies in a brooder. It would be nice to get an update on this situation. :)

[harpo]

this is weird i breed both budgies and quail and i no that my quail share a nest but ive never heard of 2 budgies sharing

[tinytalkers07]

8 of the eggs hatched. The males stay out of the box, and the two females sit and share the responsibilities. I sit out there a lot to watch the birds and I haven't seen any fighting. I did take 3 of the oldest ones to handfeed, so it is not so crowded in the box. They are all doing very well! The mothers were both green and the fathers were both YF2 sky blues... The babies are green, YF2 skyblue, and I even have a regular blue in the bunch. I will try to get some pictures soon..

Thanks everyone for your interest!

[star-24]

thats great,, we await your pics :D

[Squeak_Crumble]

:eek: :D wow thats amazing the only thing.............................whos mothere of who????